In a protest movement without leaders, he became a voice of Occupy Toronto, a man called Antonin Smith who led a small band of protesters into an illegal squatting attempt in a city-owned basement last weekend.

In fact, Antonin Smith is not his real name, a significant fact that Star readers were never told even though “Smith” was quoted several times in news reports.

“Smith” is a false name, a pseudonym with which this man, apparently 34, identified himself to the Star and other media when he was first interviewed running the Occupy Toronto food team at St. James Park in early November.

It is the Star’s policy that pseudonyms are used “only rarely, with the managing editor’s permission.” The policy also says that when someone is identified by a false name, readers must be told.

But that transparency cannot happen if sources do not play straight with reporters.

Reporters aim to talk to real people with real names. For the most part, journalists must trust that sources don’t lie about their identities. Any understanding with sources to be quoted anonymously or identified by a pseudonym must be clearly understood and agreed upon up front.

That wasn’t the case here. From the outset, Antonin Smith did not play straight with the Star. When reporter Josh Tapper first interviewed the Occupy Toronto spokesman on Nov. 1, he said only that his name was Antonin Smith.

That laid the foundation for “Smith” to be quoted in the Star four more times, having been interviewed by at least six reporters who also identified him as Antonin Smith.

On Monday, “Smith” was pictured on Page 1 of the Star, his face partially shielded by a flowered bandana. This “Star exclusive” came about as a result of Smith contacting two Star journalists about his plans to move the Occupy movement indoors.

The story reported that “Smith” had led a small group of protesters into an abandoned Queen St. basement. The next day, when police arrived at the barricaded premises where the group was “squatting” illegally, this protest disbanded peacefully.

That front-page exposure resulted in readers raising questions with me about Antonin Smith’s identity. I was told that this man was known by another surname when he was involved in student politics.

Let’s call him Antonin M.

One reader included a link to the Facebook page of Antonin M. and student press reports that included a photograph of Antonin M. — the same man identified in the Star as Antonin Smith.

So who is this guy?

When I raised this with reporter Laura Stone, who wrote Monday’s story, she said he told her Smith was a pseudonym. Stone had questioned him about his name because of information she had received earlier from columnist Catherine Porter, who had interviewed this same man on the first weekend of Occupy Toronto.

He identified himself to Porter as Antonin, with the surname that begins with M. While Porter never did quote him, she filed his contact information under that name.

Porter was unaware that this source had been identified in the Star with an alias. When he alerted her to the squatting plans, she informed her editors and gave Stone the contact information for this Antonin M.

When Stone wrote her piece, she included the information that “Smith” was not his real name. This raised questions for news editor Jane Davenport, who handled the story on late deadline. Unaware of the information he had given Porter, she opted to remove the confusing reference to a false name to be consistent with the Star’spast reporting.

In retrospect, she now thinks the story should have reported that the man went by two names.

So, who is Antonin Smith? The truth is I can’t verify his identity. Even if I could, I don’t think it’s fair me for to out him here.

When I contacted him, he confirmed that Antonin Smith was a pseudonym. He said he used this alias because of death threats to protesters. Because the Star had repeatedly identified him as Antonin Smith, be believes there was an implicit understanding that he would be identified by this pseudonym when we reported on the illegal squatting.

The Star does not break its promises. Although this man misled the Star at the outset, it’s clear that through the course of talking to several reporters he came to believe the Star would identify him with a pseudonym when he invited the Star to report on his illegal actions. And reporter Stone and photographer Carlos Osorio believed that to be so too.

What puzzles me is why he gave Porter another surname.

This gets more bizarre: On Thursday, whoever this guy is informed me that Antonin M. is also a pseudonym. He also claims that many of the Occupy Toronto protesters interviewed by the media gave false names.

I don’t know if that’s true. If so, one has to wonder if the Internet culture, where anyone can be anyone online, has taken to the streets.

A bigger question about those who opt to participate pseudo-anonymously in a protest movement: Does standing up for something count, if you’re not willing to put your name on the line?

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